Thursday, December 12, 2013

We all breathe a sigh of relief when we see the road
maintenance crew salt, sand and shovel out the roads after a winter storm.The truth is however, too much road salt can
contaminate groundwater supplies.So
what can be done to make roads safe without harming the environment?

How do road salts
contaminate groundwater?

First, it’s important to understand how road salts
contaminate groundwater. When the snow melts and spring rains come, all the
salt that accumulated over the winter ends up in storm water catch basins and
streams.The salt that is carried to
surface water can harm fish and plants.The salt can also damage vegetation and soil along the shoulders of
roads, causing erosion issues.

The salt can get into underground drinking water supplies by
infiltrating the groundwater and contaminating wells.Salt can remain in groundwater for
decades.If the salt does get into
groundwater supplies used for drinking water it can affect the taste of the
water, affect individuals with hypertension, and corrode plumbing
infrastructure.

Lowering salt
applications make roadways safer.

Although salt is used because many municipalities believe it
is one of the only ways to ensure roadways are safe, there are techniques,
equipment and chemicals that require less salt to be used and actually make
roads safer.In Kamloops, BC, Canada
following the change to a low-salt application technique, the city saw an 8%
decrease in accidents.Similarly, in
Idaho transportation officials switched from heavy salt and sand applications
to liquid magnesium chloride on one stretch of road and saw an 83% reduction in
accidents in that area.This sort of
success story probably won’t happen in every case, but by utilizing lower salt
application techniques, roadways become safer and the environment becomes
healthier.

What can you do?

Here are some ideas you can recommend to your local
municipality to protect groundwater supplies from salt contamination:

1.Use the
right amount: The most important factor to remember when applying salt is
the surface temperature.When roads are
warmer, less salt is needed.Municipalities might consider purchasing inexpensive infrared thermometers
for spreading trucks.

2.Only use
it where it’s needed: Make sure salt is being used in areas where it is
most needed.Hills, curves, bridges,
etc. need more salt than other areas of the road.There are also times when salt won’t help
melt ice on roads.If the surface
temperature is below ~10º F, a road won’t benefit from salt.Instead, use another chemical suited for
lower temperatures.

3.Apply
early!: Don’t wait until the snow starts falling to apply salt.It takes more salt to melt snow that has
accumulated than it does to prevent the accumulation.Brine can be applied days before a weather
event in the right conditions.

You can also use these techniques when you apply salt on
your own driveway and sidewalks so you can stay safe while keeping groundwater
supplies clean!

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

This is a story about Nebraska, but I have reason to
believe, the lessons Nebraskans are learning are pertinent to all United
States. In Nebraska, as in the rest of the United States, the use of surface
water started early. It wasn’t long, particularly in the arid west, that the
adage, “Whiskey’s for drinkin, water’s for fightin” became true. Yet, in time
we developed rules and surface water storage reservoirs to tame, if not
eliminate, the water wars.

Although the use of ground water for domestic wells and some
irrigation along streams started early, it wasn’t until the middle of the
twentieth century, with the invention of methods to drill and pump from deep
wells and the innovative development of the center pivot, that ground water use
began to develop. Again, in Nebraska as elsewhere, ground water helped slake
our ever increasing demand for water and quell the water wars.

For a time, with large surface and ground water reservoirs
at our disposal, we in Nebraska truly lived the good life. Even in the dry
years of the 1970s, squabbles among water users were few. Many believed with
our endless ground water supplies, we had solved our water problems. This myth
was bolstered by the strong belief in people’s minds that surface water and
ground water are connected. Even state law did not recognize a connection. Gradually,
however, our streamflows, and worse yet the alluvial aquifers fed by stream
flows, started to decline. Surface water users, with permitted water rights, environmentalists,
started complaining that ground water pumping was drying up Nebraska’s surface water
supplies.

With the threat of law suits, from both within and outside the
state, slowly Nebraskans and Nebraska law began to take small steps toward recognizing
that surface water and ground water are indeed connected. But the politics were,
and still are, such that neither the courts nor the legislature seem inclined
to tackle the problem. Hence the water wars have started again and seem to grow,
in proportion to our growing water demands.

Yet, I see signs of hope. We are slowly starting to
recognize that our surface water and ground water supplies are not only
connected, but in many instances are simply different manifestations of a
single resource. In addition, although in the early 1900s, Robert Willis, one
of Nebraska’s early water engineers, recognized the importance of surface water
irrigation for maintaining alluvial aquifers and streamflow during the
irrigation season, we are just now starting to actively manage some of our surface
water canals for ground water recharge. And, better yet, where these management
schemes are being realized, the “fightin” words between surface water users and
ground water users is beginning to disappear.

The importance of the realization that managing
interconnected surface water and ground water as one resource was recently
demonstrated at a water users task force, The Water Funding Task Force was
established by the legislature to develop much needed funding for water
research, management, and infrastructure. A battle between surface water users
and ground water users over who should allocate the funds was widely expected
to block any consensus on a recommendation for the legislature. That did not
happen. Why? After much education and discussion among task force members, the
task force recognized that ground water and surface water are not only
connected, but where there are these connections are simply different
manifestations of one resource. Also, and importantly, they came to understand
that if we are to sustain the water uses that provide Nebraska with the good
life, we must work together to manage this precious resource as one supply.
With this understanding a consensus, which few expected, was achieved. Perhaps,
the rest of the state can learn from the task force and instead of funding
lawsuits, we can stop “fightin”, and use our resources to solve our mutual
water resource problems.